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en-usTechdirt. Stories filed under "bbc"https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/td-88x31.gifhttps://www.techdirt.com/Mon, 7 Jul 2014 03:36:00 PDTGoogle Restores Some Links To Articles Removed In 'Right To Be Forgotten' MessMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140703/18155427779/google-restores-some-links-to-articles-removed-right-to-be-forgotten-mess.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140703/18155427779/google-restores-some-links-to-articles-removed-right-to-be-forgotten-mess.shtmlremoved from its index over "right to be forgotten" requests, following a dangerous European Court of Justice ruling. Various publications in the UK complained about some of the removals, and requested if there was any sort of appeals process. The BBC was initially told that there was no such process, though the Guardian claimed it was looking for ways to appeal.

It appears that the current "appeals" process is based on how much attention and ridiculousness happen in response to the revelations. Because late last week, Google restored some of the links for the Guardian (mainly the ones where the removals made no sense at all).

Either way, this has now created quite a mess, which was easily predictable as soon as the court's ruling came down. How anyone can think a somewhat arbitrary censorship mechanism would function smoothly is beyond me.

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]]>so-how's-this-work-now?https://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20140703/18155427779Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:14:00 PSTWhile BBC Wants To Kill Off A Bunch Of Websites, Geeks Quickly Archive ThemMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110210/16040613047/while-bbc-wants-to-kill-off-bunch-websites-geeks-quickly-archive-them.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110210/16040613047/while-bbc-wants-to-kill-off-bunch-websites-geeks-quickly-archive-them.shtmlkill off a bunch of websites, including Douglas Adams' old stomping grounds, H2G2. Apparently some of the sites were going to be archived, and others weren't -- but as you may know, the BBC does not have the greatest of reputations when it comes to archiving old material. However, this is the internet. If someone announces they are going to get rid of something that other people would like saved, there are tools to save it. Glyn Moody points us to a note from Ben Goldacre about how some "anonymous nerd" archived all of the sites the BBC is set to take down (it cost him a whopping $3.99) and he's now set that archive free, so you, too, can help make sure this content lives on. The whole thing is available via a torrent file at http://178.63.252.42/, which also has a description of the project, so have at it.

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]]>internet-to-the-rescuehttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110210/16040613047Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:04:44 PDTUK Regulators Allow BBC To DRM Its ContentMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100616/0307399847.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100616/0307399847.shtmllet Hollywood add some DRM to movies it broadcasts to television, it looks like UK regulators Ofcom have gone even further in allowing the BBC to similarly use a form of DRM to try to stop copying of HD programming. Not surprisingly, this also came at the request of the entertainment industry. But, again, this seems to be about breaking what your technology allows, just so that the entertainment industry can have the illusion of control. The reports all say things like "This will allow broadcasters to stop piracy of shows," but that's patently ridiculous. There are always ways around these blocks for those who really want to get there -- and those shows will still end up online just as quickly (or maybe a few seconds later). And at that point, the locks are meaningless... except to folks who didn't want to have to buy an expensive locked down settop box that is required to view this kind of content. It's an incredibly anti-consumer move that has little to no benefit to the entertainment industry, other than in their minds.

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]]>lamehttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100616/0307399847Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:31:20 PSTUK Newspapers Demand BBC iPhone App Be Blocked Because It's Too CompetitiveMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100219/0211018236.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100219/0211018236.shtmldemanding the BBC's new iPhone app be blocked. They claim that the app "will undermine the commercial sector's ability to establish an economic model in an emerging but potentially important market ... This, over the long term, will reduce members' ability to invest in quality journalism."

Really? So the newspapers are basically admitting they're too clueless to compete in the marketplace? Sure, the BBC is publicly funded, but it's just one publication out there. Certainly newspapers can create their own services that attract an audience that competes with what the BBC is offering (or is focused on areas the BBC won't do). This is basically newspapers admitting they're too lazy to compete. Technically, the newspapers are complaining that this is a "new service" that needs approval, but the BBC correctly points out that all it did was create an app out of its existing web content.